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Monday, September 5, 2011

Ok, so all of a sudden, all over Blog Land I started to hear about Erin Condren Planners. They are supposed to be fantastic so I did a little looking and I really liked what I saw. See, I used to be a Franklin/Covey Girl. I had my Franklin planner and every November I bought new "innards" for it. I loved it. When we decided that I would stay home with the kids, I realized that a Franklin didn't fit my lifestyle anymore. I didn't have meetings and deadlines or any other things to write down so for the last year and a half I've used one of those little purse sized calendars and a calendar on the wall. Neither one which really worked great or ever seem to have the same thing listed! I really hadn't been looking for a planner but when I saw this one, I knew I needed to save my pennies (and pop cans and quarters from the couch) so I could get one. Some will say they are pricey, but coming from Franklin/Covey, they are about the same price. I have heard that there are coupons/Groupons and periodic sales but I missed them all!!

My planner showed up on Friday, August 26th and I was beyond thrilled. From the time you order it, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get so when that Fed-Ex guy arrived at 5:30 I was like a kid in a candy store.

Even the box is pretty, isn't it? I could hardly wait to open up this little box to see what treasures waited inside. (Yes, I know, it is a sickness I have - planning, organizing, etc, etc)

Look at all of the cute stuff on top of the cute packaging. . .. all kinds of extra goodies. By this time I was almost drooling and I couldn't wait to open that tissue paper and pull out my planner from the bubble wrap.

Isn't it pretty??? I really liked this patter (obviously, that is why I chose it!) As I looked at this, though, my heart sank. Can you see it? The typo? Apparently I have two boys named Joshua . .Plus Nathan. I wonder where the extra Joshua is hiding :-( At first I thought it was my error but I pulled out the order slip and guess what? It wasn't. I contacted the company and they are sending me a new one . . .plus I have this one so now, I got two for the price of one HA! The nice thing is that I can start using this one and get used to it before I get my nice new (correct) one - kinda gives me a chance to work the bugs out! Unless you know a Koll family with two Joshua's who would like to buy a planner?

Here are some photos of the inside of the planner:

I really love the full month at a glance page. This is very important to me in any planner so that when it is time to make appointments or add family days I can see what else is going on in the near future. I can also see at a glance what Birthday's are coming up as well as Holiday's or other special days.

There are lots of blank pages for notes, goals, plans and more. There is a two page spread at the front of every month plus more pages in the back of the planner as well.

Each day of the week gets three sections - Morning, Day, and Night. There are 3 days on one page which also includes a place to list goals and To do items, and 4 days on the next page. I love that I can mark off a section for an appointment and see that the entire morning is gone due to that one item. I also love that there is plenty of room to write notes for the day.

Included in the back of the planner are several pages of stickers. Some are specific like birthday, haircut, etc. and some are blank. I used to use little post-it stickers for this same purpose and I loved how I could color code certain things so they would catch my eye. (When I get my corrected planner, I will be taking time to add lots of stickers!!)

As any good planner should, it does include an "Important Information" page so that you can list phone numbers and more. I love this page for the use of babysitters. When we leave the kids with a sitter, I can leave this by the phone on my desk so they they have easy access to the info if needed.

Finally, in the back is this two side "Keep it Together" pocket so there is place to stick invitations, receipts, school notes or other important documents you need handy. There is also a zip shut pocket - a great place to keep a pen or some paperclips. (Which, by the way, were included with the order! They are adorable!)

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Last by not least, I thought I would show you how I use my daily pages - instead of now having a separate binder with a to do list, I write each days to do list in the sections for the day. This way, on Friday - my finish up project day - I can just glace back through the week and see what isn't crossed off. A quick and easy way to wrap up projects.

Family

My Family

My husband Darryl and I have been married since August 2001. We met on-line through a site called Christian Matchmaker.com on Oct. 31, 2000, met in person on December 16, 2000, were engaged on March 18, 2001 and Married August 4, 2001. When you are "old" you know what you are looking for!! We were married for 7 years before being blessed with baby #1, Josh in October 2009 and than baby #2, Nate, who in December 2010. Our family is currently rounded out by our sweet and crazy cat Harley! That's us :-)